Reincarnate my rivalry
by SorrowfulReincarnation
Summary: Evil Spirits seldomly regret... and yet there was this certain day that Mima regretted more than anything. While relaxing on a meadow, the evil spirit falls asleep and dreams of her past with a certain rival... and that one, fateful day...


_**Reincarnate my rivalry**_

Silence was a blessing. Loud noises, especially by large crowds, were obnoxious and annoyed her... and a party, or rather a wedding, sadly attracted those large crowds... even if she herself had invited most of them. Not that she could like any of them, mind you. Actually, she hated large crowds and happy chattering... however, the crowd had been necessary to let the wedding look like a normal one.

And secretly, she had enjoyed all the attention she got, something she hadn't had in a long while.

Now, there was no such crowd. The silent breeze that now blew into her face, the soft noises of rustling grass, the fresh fragrance of flowers in the air... these things were calming, were a blessing. She enjoyed nothing more than those moments of peace and silence...

..even though she was disgusted by them.

Silently, she admitted, though, that there was something she enjoyed more than some silence.. something more than just watching the sunset, now at this moment... she enjoyed spending some time with Yuuka. Kazami Yuuka, her rival.

Silence. Peace. Rustling grass, fragrance of flowers... the twilight... beautiful things many enjoyed. And so did she. She, Mima, enjoyed those things as well. It sounded like a joke, an evil spirit, loving peace and silence, beauty...

"Man...", groaned Mima as she sat down onto the meadow, "...it's been two days since the wedding, and I still haven't calmed down..." As she spoke, the evil spirit rose a hand and took off her hat, placing it on the ground next to her.

Yes... Yes indeed, it had been two days since the wedding. And ever since then, Mima had been in a bad mood. Why, she didn't know herself... It had all started when she awoke after the wedding.

Well okay, yes, there was one thing that could be reason for her bad mood... No. No,it was the reason for her bad mood. Old feelings had returned. Feelings she hadn't had in a whole seven years... the need to fight. But not with anybody... rather, with one certain person.

Five years had been a long time, even if you were sealed in a silver chest, stripped off your powers, with no idea how much time had passed... to be honest, you lose any sense of time pretty fast when you hover in nothingness, waiting... feeling numb, wanting nothing more than to touch, to taste, to smell, to see or hear something... five years feel like an endless torture if you had nothing.

But during a five years, you had a lot time to think about your life until then... or rather, "afterlife".

Now, there weren't a lot of things that the evil spirit regretted. She was well aware of her bad deeds, her tries to kill that stupid walking enigma, her futile attempts to destroy Gensokyo... yes, Mima was well aware that those hadn't been something a "good" person would do. But, after all, she wasn't a "good person". Mima was an evil spirit. And one that had been known and feared throughout all Gensokyo for her vast, destructive power.

Had been known.

But all in all, Mima wasn't a person to regret... Instead, Mima was rather proud of most of her own actions, especially those concerning almost destroying Gensokyo, fighting Yuuka Kazami to the point where they both were on the verge of death and... and of course, training Marisa.

Marisa Kirisame was so far the only girl to sneak her way into her heart... It had been a rainy day when Mima found the little human girl, which had ran away from the human village after being laughed at for wanting to become a magician, in the forest of magic, cowering in a hollow tree to avoid the thunderstorm outside.

Somehow... somehow, Marisa Kirisame had managed to make the evil spirit weak. The memory of the day that Mima took Marisa in, carried her through the storm to her old house in the middle of the forest... it was the same house Marisa was now living in. Having seen that Marisa still lived there had caused a warm feeling in Mima's cold heart, which only beat for revenge, only due to a grudge...

Being an evil spirit was anything but easy. The only thing that kept you existing was a grudge. Onryô exist due to grudges they hold, even after death. That Onryô servant at that vampire brat's mansion surely knew more of this than Mima herself... Mima's grudge had been so agressive, so powerful, that even she herself was unaware of how strong it really was or what exactly she held it against.

But after all, Mima wasn't just some casual Onryô, or a powerful Onryô like that Scarlet Brat's servant.

All in all, Mima knew of three species of Onryô in Gensokyo. The casual Onryô, a shapeless being waiting to be ferried by a shinigami. That species of Onryô was usually encountered in Muenzuka, near the Sanzu no Kawa.

Then, there was the powerful kind of Onryô, Onryô which retained their human shape. That Kayako girl at the mansion was one of them... they look exactly like they looked like when they died. Usually, those are merciless, agressive beings, killing without any regret... how exactly that Kayako girl had retained her mind was unknown to Mima. That powerful magician at the Scarlet Devil Mansion possibly had something to do with that.

And then, there was this last kind of Onryô... actually, only one of them existed. She herself, Mima, was the only known 'Akuryou'. An Akuryou wasn't actually much different from a powerful Onryô like Kayako... no, actually, the only difference was for one, the power (of which Mima's was many times of Kayako's), and the appearance... Mima looked nothing like when she had been alive.

And also, Akuryou... seemed not to regret a lot.

No... No, regret was something Mima actually didn't know, and yet... yet there was this one day that Mima regretted. More than anything... that one, fateful day...

Slowly, the evil spirit closed her eyes and let herself fall backwards until she lay on the meadow, her arms crossed in behind her head. "Yuuka...", whispered Mima softly, "...I'm sorry for back then..."

Feeling her conciousness fade and sleep claim her, Mima let her mind trail back to that fateful day... a day she would like to forget. But even now, even seven years after it... even now, the regret was a burning pain in the evil spirits chest...

Eventually, sleep overcame her.

* * *

_Seven years ago, that fateful day..._

Sweat ran down the evil spirits face as she panted, exhausted and yet excited. A smug grin was across her face as she took deep breaths, eyeing her rival down. Yes, she was an evil spirit, but to interact with this world, she had chosen to have a somewhat material body... a body, which was able to feel, taste, smell, hear and see.

Her opponent, her rival, had an equal smug grin on her face, yet she wasn't panting... nontheless, some sweat ocassionally rolled down her forehead, but she would wipe it away ever so often as soon as it appeared. Her green hair, a lighter tone than Mima's, was messy and disheveled, like most of her clothes... she had already taken in a little bit of a beating from Mima.

Without any word or action, Mima watched how her rival, which had smirked at Mima over her shoulder, turned around and closed her parasol. Eventually, after holding it for a moment, just looking at it, she leaned her parasol onto her shoulder and smirked at Mima. The evil spirit returned the grin... even though she did feel anything but like she should grin. But for now, that had to wait. For now, she had to enjoy the moment, and nothing else... and make this the best fight the two of them ever had.

When did their rivalry start? Like a date of a wedding or a first kiss, Mima knew exactly when it had begun. It had begun two days after the Lotus Land Incident, when Marisa returned and told Mima of what she had experienced.

At first, Mima had only listened because Marisa was her adopted daughter, though she hadn't truly listened to every word, bored by such a thing like an incident without her. It had changed when Marisa began to tell of a powerful, apparently sadistic Youkai she and Reimu had fought... from that moment on, Mima was all ears.

Marisa told Mima of a powerful blast that the Youkai possessed, even though it was unable to actually use magic herself. Apparently, the Youkai had borrowed her magic abilities during their fight from the dream world... but apparently, even outside it, that Youkai was able to fire off this powerful blast of energy, which had apparently vaporized several things during their fight.

Interested about such a powerful Youkai, unable to use magic and yet powerful enough to convert her power into a blast of energy, Mima had grabbed her adoptive daughter by the arm and told her to show her where to go.

Marisa, even though confused, her showed Mima the way to the dream world and Mugenkan... and true enough, after knocking out the gatekeeper, a tired looking Youkai came down the steps to the mansion, asking who was causing this obnoxious noises... Mima hadn't even bothered to reply back then. Without another word, she had used her strongest magic on the unsuspecting Youkai... and got her ass handed to her when she first experienced the "Master Spark".

But being stubborn like she was, Mima hadn't given up then, and after recovering for a day, returned to fight the Youkai once more... which had already awaited her. Their fight had been long... it seemed like a few moments for Mima, the thrill and enjoyment of the fight to the death too great to care about time and space or anything else... Mima couldn't remember to ever have such fun.

When their fight ended after a whole week, neither of them had been able to stand anymore... they both had laid there, leaned against the mansion, coughing and panting... and laughing. It was then that Mima had learned Yuuka's name. And it was then that the two of them swore that this was long from being over... their rivalry had begun that day. And ever so often, the two of them clashed. Clashed their bodies, minds, beliefs, existences.

But there were also times when the two of them just enjoyed each others company. Yes, it seemed weird for two rivals, people that hate each other, to just enjoy each others company... and actually, it was quite a rare event that the two of them would not just be at each others throat, just for the fun and the adrenaline. The short moment of nothing more than fun, all problems becoming unimportant, just the feelign of being on the verge of death...

Once in four months however, Mima came to Mugenkan (and later the Garden of the Sun just to spend some time with her rival. The two of them would sit down, drink a tea together, chatting like the were old friends...and next time they met, they would try to kill each other again. Just for the sake of it.

Then, there had been that time when all those demons had poured out of the mountain, had poured out of Makai. When they did, Mima and Yuuka had just been entangled in one of their fights... Neither of them could remember how many days ago they had begun it.

When they saw the demons and smelled an incident, it had actually been the only time that they had ever enjoyed each others company while they worked together. They both had known Reimu would solve this incident and everything would be fine... nontheless, they had needed a change... and beating the hell out of demons was actually just the fun they had searched for. Both of them. Before they went back to their usual routine...

And that was, how they ended up here, standing just outside the Garden of the Sun, already exhausted from the fight that had started about four days ago...

_~Music: Sleeping Terror (remastered)_

In perfect silence, Mima waited for Yuuka to attack... the smug grins on their faces not vanishing for one second. It was the silent invitation to continue their dance as Mima's right eyebrow twitched, an invitation that Yuuka was eager to accept. The moment that Yuuka jumped towards the evil spirit, Mima already dashed backwards.

The moment that Yuuka was about to land on the ground, Mima dashed forwards and threw herself a the flower master. She landed a lucky hit on Yuuka's left arm, but the flower Youkai just punched forwards and got Mima on the left shouder, actually sending her sliding backwards on the ground.

Mima pushed herself off and tried to attack Yuuka's head by turning her legs into her ghost tail and letting it lash out towards Yuuka, but her aim had been off and she missed Yuuka's head by a few inches. Yuuka used that and grabbed Mima by the dress and pulled her down, smashed her into the ground aside her.

And before Mima could do anything else, Yuuka had already pulled her up and pushed the closed parasol against her stomach... and when she opened it with a sudden force, Mima found herself flying backwards until she hit the ground with her back first.

But Mima wasn't going down, ignored the pain. Instead, she jumped up and dashed towards Yuuka, a fist covered in twilight energy aimed at the Youkai's chest. But Yuuka jumped over her and hit her in the back. Tried to, at least, as Mima suddenly whirled around, blocked the parasol with her forearm (which didn't break that moment only due to being covered in twilight energy), and hit Yuuka with her fist, actually causing the flower master of four seasons to slide back slightly.

Yuuka reached back to hit Mima with her parasol, but the evil spirit ducked underneath and shot magic into Yuuka's stomach, actually causing the flower master to slide backwards yet again. Yuuka blocked the following combo of three punches, a ghost tail lash and the magic with her parasol, then proceeded to stab Mima with the sharp end of it... however, the evil spirit dashed backwards, and avoided that way.

When Mima looked up, she found Yuuka gone, much to her horror. Looking left and right for her, Mima awaited to see her... Yuuka, after all, wasn't really fast. Nontheless, the flower Youkai was nowhere to be seen... until Mima noticed a shadow in the air above her. Turning towards it Mima immediately summoned her staff to block the nearing parasol swing... didn't manage in time however, and received the powerful swing to the side of her face.

When she slowly rose from the ground, Mima was snickering slightly... ignoring the blood flowing down her cheek, due to the sharp end of the parasol having cut her. Yuuka was gathering power, a blue circle glowing around her... Mima knew that Yuuka had to charge energy for her Master Spark. Countless encounters with her rival helped Mima to see and understand every move of Yuuka, just as much as Yuuka knew all of hers. And yet, neither of them was truly able to block the other ones attacks.

Mima wouldn't let Yuuka fire the spark, though. It often brought the end to one of their fights when Yuuka used it... Even Mima had a hard time standing the Master Spark. And yet, over the time, she had managed to take more and more of them before the fight was over.

But they both knew that this fight was about to be over... Yuuka didn't use the Master Spark unless she was already exhausted... it just was no fun if she used it from the very beginning. They both had agreed on that.

Rushing forwards to attack the flower master and stop the attack, Mima gathered energy and released it through her open palms... sadly, too soon, and Yuuka didn't even get hit, gathered more power. Mima knew better than to let her, and rushed forwards again, let her ghost tail lash out the moment she was almost in front of Yuuka... and missed when the flower master danced around it.

Sharp pain struck Mima as a powerful swing of a parasol impacted with her back, send her into agony and down to the ground. But not for long. Th countless bruises and scars on the evil spirit (luckily hidden by most of her clothing) weren't there for nothing... she had taken many of those swings already, and this wasn't going to be the last one...

...or maybe it was.

Still on her knees, Mima glanced over her shoulder to find Yuuka charging energy anew... Yuuka never catched the sad expression that flashed across Mima's face for a second.

The evil spirit twirled around and dashed at Yuuka... who suddenly jumped at her, her foot impacting with Mima's face, sending her down onto the ground once more. Mima glanced up and found Yuuka standing above her, a cute smile on her face.

...Mima would miss it.

Changing her ghost tail into legs, Mima kicked Yuuka's foot away and jumped to her feet. Immediately, she summoned her staff and hit Yuuka with it, followed by a fist, covered in the energy of the sunset.

The sunset on the horizon, behind the green hil they were fighting on. One of their favourite spots. Their favourite spot. During a fight, as well as just lazying around...

Mima was pulled out of her thoughts when Yuuka charged at her with her parasol ready for another swing, but Mima pulled her staff up when Yuuka was right in front of her,and send her into the air. Mima jumped after the flower master, and with a powerful punch, threw her into the ground, where she bounced off.

Mima landed when Yuuka had already gotten up, dusting herself off, the parasol ready for another attack. Mima got hit by it and was falling backwards, but as she did, she chanted a small spell, and moved her arms forwards, hitting Yuuka with a thin, powerful laser.

The flower master was sliding backwards from it, her parasol now used to block the power of the spell. When she lowered it, she found Mima charging at her. Yuuka swung her parasol, but missed the evil spirit by just an inch. Swinging it down, Mima had already dashed sidewards, and when Yuuka swung the parasol that way, Mima dashed backwards.

Mima had changed her tactic a little, relying onto avoiding attacks now rather than being the offensive one...at least, until Yuuka didn't defend herself for a moment. Mima rushed at her again, but Yuuka danced around the fist and pulled her knee up, burying it deep in Mima's stomach, the evil spirit gasping for breath as she doubled over.

A quick swing of the parasol later, Mima was laying on her back in a large distance from Yuuka. Perfect for her. Concentrating just a small moment longer, Yuuka gathered more power... more power than she needed for a Master Spark. Actually, almost thrice that power.

The moment Mima got up, Yuuka was already done and had aimed... both of them. Mima's eyes widened when she saw the two Yuuka's directing her parasols at her... before a deafening noise broke through the silence of the evening, the earth shook and the darkness of the sunset was pushed away when not one, but two Master Sparks broke through it.

It didn't hold all too long, though... It drained more power from Yuuka than a normal, single Master Spark... almost thrice as much, as Yuuka also had to summon a flower clone through which she channeled the second Master Spark.

The moment that the energy died down, Yuuka smirked and almost expected to see her rival on the ground, beaten up for worse... but her smirk vanished and made place for another emotion... surprise.

The flower clone, which had shot it's Master Spark from the air above her, landed silently beside her, and vanished, turned into a few leaves that were blown away in the soft breeze of the evening. Yuuka's crimson eyes widened in surprise as she finally realized... that she had lost.

Mima, badly beaten up, her clothes torn and burned... she wasn't as knocked out as Yuuka had expected her to be. Instead, Mima charged at Yuuka once more... adn before she could defend herself, a fist hit her in the stomach, caused her to double over... and the fight was over. Yuuka knew that she had been the one who lost when she felt how weak she really was. Too weak to stand up again. The Double Spark had drained all power from her.

Behind her, she heard a soft thud. Glancing over one shoulder, she found that Mima had fallen onto her knees as well, probably just as exhausted.

_~Music fades out~_

* * *

_~Music: Okami - Sorrowful Goodbye ~_

It was a while later that the two of them just stood on the hill, looking into the sunset. Neither of them had spoken a word since the end of their fight... neither of them had spoken a word to begin with when the fight started.

But eventually Yuuka decided it was the time for words.

"And yet again, you win, Mima...", chuckled the flower master, still somewhat exhausted, "...After all, there is a reason as for why you, of all people, happen to be my rival... my equal."

Mima glanced at the flower Youkai, but didn't say a word. The flower Youkai had a sadistic grin on her lips as she glanced out of the corner of her eyes at the evil spirit, which, as Mima noted to herself in silence, did still look beautiful, despite it being a grin as sadistic as it could be.

Yuuka wondered slightly as for why Mima didn't retort. Instead, Mima just looked at her with hollow, emotionless eyes, the soft breeze blowing some of Mima's darkgreen hair into her face, hiding her left eye, which, at least to Yuuka, looked kinda mysterious...

..even more mysterious as the darkgreen-haired spirit already was.

"What's wrong, Mima? Cat caught your tongue? Usually, you would be taunting me right now for losing!", chuckled Yuuka, a soft, genuine smile on her face, her eyes closed as she twirled her parasol on her shoulder.

Once more, Mima remained silent, slightly worrying the flower Master... but eventually, Mima turned to look at the sunset once more, now, a sad, worried expression on her face which was totally unlike her. To Yuuka, Mima's smile looked better than this sorry face.

"Say... Yuuka... do you... enjoy fighting me? To clash our attacks... our minds... beliefs... our existences?", asked the evil spirit, to which Yuuka could only chuckle slightly, amused at this weird question.

"Now, what is that for a stupid question? You of all people should know that I love fights to the death, especailly as bloody as our ones always get!", exclaimed Yuuka, grinning at the large stain of blood on Mima's usually blue dress, now something in between violet and purple from the blood.

"How about todays fight? Did you... really enjoy it? Did you have... a lot of fun?", asked Mima. She was hestitant to tell Yuuka the truth... she couldn't, and yet she knew she had to. Better now than never... "You certainly do look happy...", added the evil spirit, glancing towards Yuuka for a second from the corner of her eyes.

"Todays fight was the best I had in a long time! I grilled you with a Double Spark, but you stood back up and actually defeated me! Normally, the spark would've finished you off...", grinned Yuuka, totally unaware of Mima's depressions... depressions... it was the right word. It made Mima depressive to think about what she would have to tell Yuuka now... it hurt her just as much as it would hurt Yuuka...

"That's... good to hear...Really... I really wanted you to enjoy todays fight as much as possible...", whispered Mima, forcing a soft smile onto her face as she continued to stare into the sunset.

_~ Music fades out ~_

It became silent in between them for a few seconds... a few seconds, in which Mima finally made her decision. She had to tell Yuuka... now.

_~ Music: X - Destiny (Piano Version) ~_

"Yuuka, I... I want to be honest with you. And you are the only one I'm going to tell this... I won't even tell my little Marisa...", sighed Mima, her forced smile exchanged for a genuine one as she looked into the sunset and remembered all the fights she ever had with Yuuka...

"What's up? You gonna confess to me now, or what? Don't want your little Marisa to know that you like a sadist, eh?", snickered Yuuka, her grin back to being malicious and sadistic.

Mima sighed and closed her eyes, leaned her crescent moon staff onto her left shoulder and took a few steps towards the cliff in front of them... until she couldn't see Yuuka's face anymore, and until she was sure that Yuuka couldn't see her face, either.

Now... now came the hardest part. Fighting Yuuka wasn't hard... at least, it hadn't been the hard part of this. She just had to make sure that Yuuka enjoyed the fight as much as possible... Now. Now came the hard part. To tell Yuuka the truth...

Mima swallowed down the knot that had formed in her throat and tried to relax... tried to hold back the tears. "This was our...", Mima's voice suddenly failed to work, but forcing every power together, she began anew. She had to be strong now... for Yuuka.

"...This was our last fight, Yuuka. We will never be able to fight again after tomorrow... Thus, I wanted you to remember this fight as an enjoyable one, as a last memory of me...", whispered Mima, before she bit down onto her lower lip as she heard the gasp in behind her.

Even without turning around, Mima knew that Yuuka's expression was that of confusion and being hurt. Yuuka had once admitted to her that fighting her was one of the few thrills that Yuuka's life had to offer, and that there was no one Yuuka ever had felt connected to... until she had met her, Mima.

"W-what? What do you mean this was our last fight? Why can't we ever fight again?", roared Yuuka, her voice hurt and confused. "ANSWER ME!" Mima cringed inwardly as she heard Yuuka's enraged, hurt voice shout behind her.

"Not only our last fight... but also our last meeting, Yuuka Kazami...", added Mima quietly, immediately biting down on her lower lip again to hold her feelings inside... she didn't want Yuuka to see her cry. "...b-because I won't exist anylonger...", admitted Miam then, clenching her fists, digging her own nails into her material bodies palms.

"T-That didn't answer my question!", roared Yuuka, "You cannot simply go and never come back!" Mima bit down on her lip again. _"Yuuka, please don't make this any harder for me than it already is..."_, though the evil spirit, tears in the corners of her eyes. "I WON'T LET YOU!"

Yuuka was enraged, confused, hurt, sad... Mima knew it even without turning around. It was as if she herself shared Yuuka's emotions at that moment... Mima herself, if she would have a choice, was to just stay here forever with the flower master... but she knew she couldn't. She knew she shouldn't.

"You'll find someone else to fight with... Somebody worthier than me to be your rival. You... you cannot change my mind, Yuuka...", whispered Mima. "AND WHAT IF I DON'T WANT ANOTHER RIVAL?"

Mima dared to peek over her shoulder at the enraged flower Youkai... her expression wasn't that of anger, but of hurt and sadness. Sadness outweighted the anger...

"What if you are the only one equal to me! You cannot simply leave like that... not like this...!", continued Yuuka, this time, more silent, not louder than a weak whisper. Mima was taking everything from her if she'd go...

Mima turned away again, unable to bear the sight of her rival's sad face anylonger. Seeing Yuuka like this was... was as if Mima's world was about to shatter. The person Mima admired for her strength... she was weak. And if she was weak, Mima herself was evne weaker...

"Listen, Yuuka... I... there is something that needs to be done... and I won't survive it, I know that already. But that is... that is just my fate... I have remained too long on this earth, and now have to pay for it.", sighed Mima, "...if I could decide, I would rather stay like this, and fight with you forever..."

For a moment, it went silent, and Mima was already wondering if Yuuka had left here there in her anger... but then, the flower Youkai spoke up again. "I... I see... And there is really nothing that can be done? You have to go...?"

Mima glanced over her shoulder for a second and found the flower Youkai staring to the side, her expression showing nothing of her usual sadistic features, her evil smirk or her threatening eyes. Right now, there was only a woman that was about to lose a person precious to her... a final goodbye... a farewell...

"Sadly... sadly, there cannot be done anything about this.", sighed Mima.

The evil spirit clenched her fists again. Seeing Yuuka like this, Mima wished nothing more than to change her mind and stay with her, but... but she knew she couldn't. Never.

"There is...", Mima began anew, before she suddenly trailed off, becoming aware of what she had been about to do. She had just been about to cry her heart out on the flower Youkai's shoulder, and confess... confess what she really felt for her.

"Nah. F-forget it. It's better if you don't know... better if you never know. It would make this even harder for the both of us...", muttered Mima, swallowing her feelings down for a last time. Yuuka Kazami... the woman that Mima admired. The woman she looked up to. The woman, Mima felt something for that she hadn't felt since she had been alive...

"A-anyways... farewell, Yuuka Kazami...", muttered Mima, turning away, looking into the sunset. "...my equal."

Yuuka looked up, dared to look at the evil spirit again, which was turned away from her. Slowly, Yuuka stepped up to her. "Farewell, Mima...", whispered Yuuka, before she reached the evil spirit, and softly placed a hand on Mima's right shoulder, "...please know that you will be missed..."

Now being able to see Mima's face, the flower Youkai held back another gasp. Tears were rolling down Mima's cheeks as the evil spirit looked into the sunset with a pained, hurt expression. "T-thank you...Yuuka. I'll remember that in my last moment.", chuckled Mima softly.

It went silent, stayed like this... Yuuka wished it would stay forever like this. Just her and Mima, standing atop the cliff, Yuuka's hand laid onto Mima's shoulder... but like every moment, it had to end. And it came to an end, when Mima turned away and began to leave.

Yuuka's hand slowly and hesitantly sled down the evil spirits shoulder and arm as she left, and immediately craved for the touch of it again. But it shouldn't be, and even Yuuka knew that as she turned to the sunset. The comforting sunset, that was so much like Mima...

"Yuuka." Yuuka almost flinched, but softly looked over her shoulder to see that Mima was standing there, the staff still leaned onto her shoulder. Mima was turned away, her back towards Yuuka... to hide her tears. Even Yuuka knew that.

"Hm?", whispered Yuuka. "There is still something I want to tell you... Think of it as a last advice from a dying person close to you...", muttered Mima, without even turning around. It went silent again, silent as only the breeze of the evening caused the grass around them to rustle softly...

"...be happy."

* * *

_If you only knew why I always longed to be with you..._

_But I shall not be allowed the feeling of love..._

_I doubt that I can be happy, now that you are gone..._

_...but I shall try..._

That was the day I had last seen her... Yes, that fateful day. And as if heaven itself mourned with me over the loss of my rival, it began to rain in Gensokyo for three days straight. I was still wondering why Mima, of all people, had left me, going straight for her , I should find out that the Hakurei Miko and Mima hated each other, and were out for each others demise, though only with sneaky tricks. Mima had eventually decided to face Reimu face-to-face... and ended up being sealed away... being perished. Once again, I was thrown into deep depressions... I became colder than I had been before. I isolated myself from people, fearing that it might hurt this much again to lose one of those I was close to. Eventually, I got mad and sadistic, longing for blood. And yet, I never had a different rival again. Mima was forever to hold that place in my heart...

..."be happy" were the words she said...

* * *

_~ Music: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Way to Fall_

Standing inside a field of flowers after Mima had left, Yuuka eventually let go of her pride, and let her emotions free. The soft breeze of the evening blew into her back, her dress moving in it. Her parasol was leaned onto her shoulder, and even though the sun was long gone, she had it open... tried to hide her face as crystal-clear tears rolled down it.

_"It isn't easy to love the one you hate the most..."_, flashed through her mind as she bit down onto her lower lip to avoid sobbing. _"They say 'Sometimes, you hate the one you love the most, because he is the only one who can truly hurt you..."_

Her grip on her parasol tightened as a sob eventually escaped her. _"The person who said this was truly a genius..."_ As if the realization came only now, Yuuka began to cry for all her hearts content, let the tears flow freely. Mima was gone.

_"Thinking of it... how did I end up feeling this way for my worst rival?"_ Mima was gone. She wouldn't return. _"Only shortly after Reimu and Marisa barged into my dream world, Mima appeared to challenge me..."_ No more Mima. No more fights. No more thrill.

_"It was the begin of our rivalry."_

The only person Yuuka had ever felt connected to, the only person she respected truly... _"And soon, the simple thought of fighting her sent me into excitement."_ The sunflowers around her shook so gently in the wind, lowered their heads as if they were crying with her.

_"My hands would shake whenever she entered, my heart would skip a beat whenever our gazes met."_ It hadn't just been respect in between them... Yuuka was well aware of why her heart felt heavy like this. Mima had been like her... "_I wasn´t alone anymore. There was someone who understood me, who had the same ammount of power as me..."_

But that was over now. Mima wasn't anymore... she was gone. _"And now that she is gone, I am all alone again..."_ Even though she knew Mima was gone... even though that, Yuuka silently swore never to abandon or forget her. If Mima would be really gone then... Yuuka silently swore to find her one day again. In hope that there would still be Mima. Yuuka swore so, because her heart ached.

_"My heart... it hurts so much... Shall I ever see her again, the soul that mine had fallen in love with...?_

As Yuuka turned to leave, she noticed a bunch of flowers to her feet. "Rosemary...", whispered Yuuka as she bowed down, gently stroking the flower. "...a rosemary means... 'goodybe' or 'I gave up on you'..."

Gently retrieving her hand from the flower, Yuuka stood up and glanced towards where Mugenkan was now, in the middle of the Garden of the Sun...

"...Rosemary... Yet I shall not give her one until I am completely sure that we won't meet again..."

_~ Music fades out ~_

* * *

_Present day_

Softly, Yuuka Kazami opened her eyes. The sad emotions from back then still lingered in her mind, still hurt her sometimes in her dreams... but as she glanced down to the person which's head was currently lying on her lap, Yuuka could only smile and not fear the nightmares of that fateful day anymore.

She softly played with Mima's hair as she let a soft smile appear on her face. It had been hours since Mima said she would leave for a while, and when she hadn't returned as nightfall set, in, Yuuka went to find her... it had only been a small feeling in the back of her mind, but somehow, Yuuka had known that she would find Mima here, lying on the same, green meadow by the cliff where they had once said their farewells to each other.

When she saw the evil spirit lying there like that, Yuuka was overcome by nostalgia... and somehow, the urge to let the evil spirit just sleep like that and sit down next to her. And that was, how she ended up remembering the old times as she softly played with the evil spirits hair.

But just like then, the moment had to end eventually. The sun had almost completely vanished behind hte horizon by now ,and it had gotten cold. Slowly and softly standing up after laying Mima's head down onto the meadow again, Yuuka stood next to her and leaned her parasol onto her own shoulder.

With a soft nudge of her foot into Mima's side, she managed to wake the evil spirit up. "Y-Yuuka...?", groaned Mima slightly, still sleepy "Yes, me. Get up, it's getting cold."; smiled Yuuka, looking down at the evil spirit. Mima let out another groan, followed by a sigh as she sat up.

Eventually, Mima stood next to Yuuka, grinning stupidly at her. At first, Yuuka thought Mima had fallen asleep again, but eventually noticed that Mima was staring deep into her eyes. "What?", asked Yuuka, her own smile not fading. "You know... I missed your cruel eyes, Yuuka. I missed them a lot during the five years I had been sealed.", smiled Mima softly, causing Yuuka to raise an eyebrow. "That so?"

"Yeah", replied Mima, before she turned to look towards the sunset. "You know... I am also glad to be back. Back for good, I mean. I won't leave this time... I promise.", whispered Mima, and Yuuka felt how her own smile grew bigger, though it also became somewhat wry when she remembered the rosemary from back then.

"That'll better be true, you sorry excuse of a ghost.", chuckled Yuuka, "... next time, I may consider just giving you a rosemary!" Mima turned around, looking confused at the flower master. "What?", she asked. Yuuka couldn't help but let that soft, warm smile return to her lips. "Ah... nothing. Just forget it."

"Why would you give someone who left you a flower...?", muttered Mima, still confused. "I said forget it!", exclaimed Yuuka, somewhat embarrassed of the thought that Mima may ever find out about the meaning of a rosemary, "...It isn't important, anyway! All that counts now, is that you are back!"

"Well, that's true!", snickered Mima, "And I won't go away this time! I bet, though, you missed me a lot... I mean, I would miss the sight of me as well... I mean, this beautiful skin, softer than silk... I bet you want to touch it once, huh?", snickered Mima, leaning closer to Yuuka, who had a slightly perverted smile on her lips as she blushed.

"Yeah, that would be awes...!", realization suddenly overcame Yuuka, "...CUT THE CRAP, MIMA!", roared the flower master, while Mima chuckled like mad. "Even you can't deny Mima's beauty, Yuuka!", snickered the evil spirit, nudging the flower Youkai with her ellbow.

"T-that's not true!", exclaimed Yuuka, turning her head away. "I am not attracted to you in the slightest!" "Is that a blush that you are trying to hide, huh? If so, you're doing a bad job at it, Yuuka!" "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN! I- I AM NOT BLUSHING AT ALL!", exclaimed Yuuka, quickly turning away from Mima.

For a moment, all that was audible was Mima's snickering, while Yuuka desperately waited for her heartbeat to slow down and her face to return to it's normal, pale color. "D-don't use my own lines against me, idiot...", muttered Yuuka eventually, and Mima just laid a hand onto her shoulder. "You had that one coming, and you know that."

Even though she didn't feel like it, Yuuka agreed silently. Yes, for teasing Mima all the time, she sure had that one coming...

"A-anyways! Get up and let's go! We still have a lot of work to do!", huffed Yuuka, turning towards Mugenkan. "Well, that's true.", chuckled Mima, turning towards her new home as well. New wasn't teh right word, though... after all, she'd lived in Mugenkan, along with Yuuka and that gatekeeper, for a few months by now...

Just as Yuuka was about to leave, Mima spoke up again. "Thanks, Yuuka."

The flower master froze and glanced over her shoulder at Mima, one eyebrow slightly rose. "For what?", she asked. Mima sighed shortly, catched up with Yuuka, and smiled at her. "For never having changeed your view on me...", explained Mima softly, before she turned away and began to fly towards Mugenkan, with Yuuka looking after her.

A soft smile appeared on Yuuka's lips.

_"Yeah... Yeah, you're right with that, Mima. I never thought any different of you... I always loved you... in my own, sadistic way..."_

Without another word, Yuuka headed back towards Mugenkan as well.

* * *

_PHEW! Finally! You can't imagine for how long I wanted to write this thing here!_

_I don't even know when this little story here first appeared before my eyes... I wrote down notes and waited for the right moment to write this... and well, here it is!_

_Yumima, is the keyword of this story... Yeah. Yuuka Kazami x Mima. Not quite a usual couple, huh? And yet... yet it has potential. At least in my eyes._

_Anyways! Guess this story here... well, it sure has some fluff, but also a quite depressing scene in the middle... a final goodbye, not knowing when or if they would ever see each other again, their true feelings for one another in their heart and mind, and yet not spoken aloud..._

_Woah, writing this sure had been fun, and looking back now, I actually wrote this story here without a break... It all just... woah! Don't know how to describe it, but one moment I started, and the next I was done..._

_I hope you guys enjoy this story here! I don't really consider it to be a spin-off for "Negative Bullet Project"... I mean, this situation doesn't even recquire the setting of Negative Bullet Project... and actually, the only moments when I refered to "NBP" was, when I mentioned "the walking enigma", which would be Chôzen Gekido's title, "Kayako", an OC, and when I mentioned the wedding, which was in the newest chapter of I-Negative Bullet (Bonds of Love)_

_I don't know... somehow, this is a spin-off to NBP, and somehow, it is not..._

_Ugh, whatever. I'm thinking too much._

_Like I said, I hope you enjoyed this, and I see you next story!_

_So long!_


End file.
